Commission report calls for reform of jury service

The study by the Law Reform Commission also recommends the blanket excusal for many professionals and public servants be scrapped and replaced by individual excusal "for good cause".

The commission’s proposals would significantly widen the pool of potential jurors and seek to address long-standing concerns about jury-tampering and misconduct, including internet research, by jurors.

The report, due to be published today, calls for a radical widening of eligibility criteria. It suggests every adult citizen of the United Kingdom who is registered to vote in Dáil elections should be qualified to sit on a jury here, as should every non-Irish citizen who is registered to vote in local elections and has been resident in the State for at least five years. This would add about 200,000 people to the pool.

Excused from service
Current law allows a wide group of people, such as doctors, nurses, teachers and public servants, to be excused "as of right" from jury service in Ireland, and the blanket excusal has given rise to concerns that juries are often composed mainly of young people and those over 65. The commission says this system of excusal based on someone's position is "difficult to reconcile" with the principle that the jury should be representative of the community and be random in nature.

To remedy this, it recommends that the blanket excusal should be repealed and replaced with a general right of excusal for good cause, with evidence required.

On misconduct, the report calls for the introduction of new offences to punish jurors for wilfully disclosing information about a trial or a jury’s deliberations, and for making inquiries about the accused through the internet or by visiting a crime scene. It states a judge should specifically warn against the use of phone or internet sources.

Jury interference
The Law Reform Commission, an independent statutory body whose main role is to keep the law under review and make proposals for reform, argues that measures should be taken to clamp down on jury interference. It suggests creating a single offence of jury-tampering, which would cover any attempt to corrupt or influence a jury. It also recommends that access to the jury list should be more restricted, and the daily roll call of the jury abolished.

Reflecting persistent concerns about the difficulties in forming juries for exceptionally long trials, the report states that a court should have the power to empanel up to three additional jurors where the judge estimates the trial will take more than three months.

Given the complexity of trials, the report says judges should have the discretion to appoint an assessor, or adviser, to assist the court and help juries understand evidence.

The report comes down in favour of retaining the system of peremptory challenges, whereby the prosecution and defence lawyers can object to seven jurors without giving reason. Critics believe this practice makes juries less representative of society, and claim certain categories of people – conservatively dressed individuals or those of certain social classes, for example – are frequently challenged.

The report will be launched in Dublin today.